Second Season: Twisted Angel
by ImageEmpress
Summary: An old partner is replaced but his history is not soon forgotten as it seems these new partners carry a past of their own, also. Faye is on the chase after a serial killer but will the killer get her first? Second episode in the second season.


Disclaimer: So sorry! I forgot to include this on the first chapter. Oh, well! Yadda yadda yadda, you know what's not mine. Anything new to you true fans will be my work. Oh, also, I'll be updating more frequently, or, at least, I'll try! So, sit back and enjoy!  
  
Episode Two: Twisted Angel  
  
Back on the Bebop, Jet eyed the new guy suspiciously and glanced at Faye warily. "What'd you say your name was again?"  
"Jesse Chiaroscuro, sir." Jet nodded.  
"You have some big shoes to fill, Jesse, literally. Our last partner had huge feet."  
The viewing screen kicked to life, bleeping an incoming message. Jet clicked it on and a beautiful young woman in her early twenties appeared. "Is Jess here?"  
"Who are you?" Jet asked sharply. He had a tendency not to trust pretty faces. Also, if she was somehow after this new guy, all the better to be on the edge. He didn't want to have to start off this partnership running away from this stranger's problems.  
"I'm not going back, Naomi," Jesse got up from the stairs and walked into her vision.  
"I wouldn't want you to." His face loosened up from his tight scowl. "I want to join you. You know I hated that place just as much, if not more than you did." He looked at Jet. Jet sighed and nodded.  
"I'll let you in," Jesse told her.  
  
"Who is she?" Faye asked in quiet tones of Jet.  
"Her name's Naomi Ritz. Faye, I don't like this one bit. They're talking about an Angel Dark, Demon Bright syndicate. They both belonged to it. Hell, her father owns the place. Out of the millions of people swarming the galaxies, you couldn't find one who didn't belong to a syndicate? Who didn't carry his past around with him wherever he went?" That was the way Spike had gotten himself killed. When Faye didn't answer, he continued, "She wants him to help her take down the syndicate, ruin Daddy's business. You know what this means, don't you?" Faye shook her head. "We can't get attached to any of them."  
"I wouldn't say I ever really got attached to Spike..."  
"You don't have to lie anymore, Faye. He's dead."  
Jet said the last part a little harshly. They watched Jesse and Naomi talking on the couch from a distance. Jet had his arms crossed; one of metal caused by an incident with the ISSP-the galaxy police force-and Faye had a towel wrapped around her wet hair from taking a shower. Faye looked down to watch the drops from the ebony locks that had escaped from the towel hit the floor.  
  
"So we're bounty hunters now? Quite a drop down from spy and assassin," Naomi told Jesse.  
"All for the better."  
"Absolutely. Actually, I think it's a lot more fun chasing down the bad guys instead of being the bad guy." They were walking down a side alley of the terraformed Mars, looking for the next bounty. Suddenly, Naomi was walking alone.  
She turned around, her fiery-red hair whiplashing around her neck. There was a knife bearing down on her. She crossed her forearms quickly, holding back the weapon a few inches from her face. The other person's fist came up from the side and hit her hard in the head, rendering her unconcious.  
  
Terra Suoiret flipped on the video camera and the hidden microphones. Naomi had implanted them in the ISSP six months ago as an assignment from her father. Naomi's father wanted Terra to remain as secretive as possible since she was a better weapon against rival syndicates that way. These cameras kept an eye on the police to insure that this happened. Interestingly enough, the ISSP was uncovering footage of her. She zoomed in, a frown crossing her hardened face. She was in one of those rival syndicates, one of the twelve she had destroyed during her career. Her image was unclear but it was obvious in the blurred image that she was a woman. "Can't decide if this woman's a saint or a sinner," a voice came through the microphones.  
"Most likely a little of both," somebody answered.  
The ISSP wasn't supposed to have this information. They wouldn't be able to decipher anymore of the video but, still, it brought worry to her. The Angel Dark, Demon Bright syndicate should have deleted this tape, so there would only be static viewed. Somebody, obviously, wasn't doing their job. She wondered if her syndicate wasn't deliberately feeding the police information about her. Her decision was instant. She clicked off the video camera and walked over to the girl handcuffed to a metal ring in the floor. The girl looked up fiercely, not noticing what Terra was doing.  
"What'd you do to Jesse?" she charged, accusingly.  
"Gave him a bump on the head. You're free to go." The girl looked up at her, confused. "You've helped me before without knowing it. Now, it's my turn to help you. Go. And don't ask questions." Terra nodded towards the door. The girl stood up and left, never expecting to see her again. She knew how these things worked. She knew it was a blessing in disguise.  
  
Jean Ritz shook his wife furiously. "Where is your daughter?" he yelled enraged.  
"I don't know!" she screamed back, tears threatening to fall, even though she stood defiantly. "If she's smart, she's far away from here!" Jean looked at his wife, gripping her arms so tightly that there would be red marks. Their daughter was a spitting image of her mother and it just brought more fire to his eyes.  
"You've taught her to be independent, didn't you? Taught her to follow her own free will? Taught her to be just like you and fight her father each step of the way?" He took one step closer to her and spat in her face. "She will learn the punishment for doing so, just as you will."  
  
Faye met her at a dance show in a casino. The information on the bounty said the murderer targeted pretty women and usually found them as showgirls. She sat down next to her in the back row. "I tried to be a showgirl once," Faye muttered to her, "but I wasn't graceful enough."  
"You look the part," the woman replied, "but, then again, appearances can be deceiving." Faye chuckled.  
"You are right about that!" she said, cheerfully. She looked around. "You're the only other female in this audience besides me, so we must have something in common. Did you try to be a dancer once?"  
The woman laughed a hoarse laugh. Faye knew it was a foolish question but she was grasping for straws. "They wouldn't take me because I was too ugly." It was true. Her face was half melted, running like wax on the left side. But her other side was untouched. Perfectly flawless. She looked not much older than Faye with shoulder-length curly brunette hair and sad doe eyes.  
"What happened?" Faye asked, sorrow in her voice.  
"Fire." She would say nothing more.  
Faye watched the dancers get in a line and lift their legs in high, synchronized kicks. "Would you like to come back to my ship with me for a drink? We could maybe talk a little more and then I could drop you off back here."  
The woman smiled and reached out her hand. "Joann."  
"Faye." She took her hand and shook it once.  
"It sounds like a fine idea."  
  
'This is a stupid idea,' Faye told herself. She was inviting a cold- blooded killer to a place where there would be only the two of them. Why was she doing this? Faye knew the answer. She wanted Joann to go after her. She wanted to know the reason why Joann killed only pretty women.  
They were walking to the living room of the Bebop now. Joann was behind her. Suddenly, she couldn't feel the icy solidity of her gun being held by the back of her shorts. 'Joann must have taken it' was her last thought before she felt the butt of her weapon collide with her head.  
  
Faye awoke numbly, rolling her head from shoulder to shoulder. She couldn't move her feet. They were tied tightly around the bottom of a chair. Her hands were being finished behind her. "Joann," she croaked out, trying to roll away the immense pain in her head.  
"Do you know why I cut my victims with a diamond knife?" Faye didn't answer. Her eyes were clenched shut tightly.  
"Yes, I'm going to kill you, Faye. See, the diamond is beautiful and alluring but, also, cold and hard. Like I said, appearances can be deceiving. Every pretty girl becomes cold and hard, just like I did. Well, I got my punishment. My ugliness on the inside was revealed on the outside. Now, it's your turn." She brought the crudely-made knife down into Faye's shoulder, cutting into her, deep.  
"Aaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhh!"  
  
Naomi aimed and shot. Joann went down. She gazed at Naomi, hurt. "You're both so beautiful. Too beautiful..."  
"You just shot the bounty, didn't you?" Jet asked, coming in after her with a sack of groceries and eating an apple.  
  
Faye and Joann were ushered to the hospital hurriedly. Faye would stay overnight and Joann would live. The group collected their bounty and headed back to the Bebop, letting Faye rest. Jesse was there when they arrived, his arms resting on his knees and his head hanging loosely from his neck. "I couldn't find her," he said, pitifully.  
"Don't be so down on yourself," Naomi told him, hyped up. He lifted his head; his gaze falling on her. His grin couldn't be bigger.  
He jumped up, turning his smile into a stern look and asked, "What happened?" She slid onto the top of the couch and brought her legs over to the other side.  
"It was a she, with long brown hair. She let me go."  
"What?'  
"Yeah, she said I've helped her before so she was returning the favor. She also said not to ask questions." She knitted her small brows together. "I don't remember her. I don't remember helping her at all."  
  
"You know what I've noticed about this crew?" Naomi entered the living room where Jet was watching television, flipping through channels of endless boredom.  
"What?" he grumbled.  
"Everyone does their own thing. No one ever mingles."  
"No one wants to stick their noses where it don't belong, that's why." He spoke roughtly. She looked up, quick to realize the statement was meant to scold her. It didn't stop her from sitting across from him.  
"What do you have against me? I've hardly spoken to you since I stepped on this ship but you've already developed a grudge against me. C'mon, now. You're a decent guy, Jet. Can't you give me a reason why?" Jet sighed and turned off the television.  
"I don't have a good enough reason," he spoke in a sad, melancholy tone. "You seem like a nice enough person, Naomi. I'm sorry I haven't been the same to you." He took another slow breath before continuing. "My last partner belonged to a syndicate, also. His name was Spike Spiegel. Unfortunately, things didn't end too well for him. He owned that skinny bummed-up ship we sold your friend."  
"Oh..." she nodded.  
"It put me a little on edge when I heard that you are a part of that same thing. I just didn't want to go through the same worry and pain that I had to go through with him again. I put up this front so I wouldn't get close to either of you. Jesse's been pretty easy to avoid. He seems to be avoiding all of us." Naomi smiled. "But you're the charismatic type that like to make friends wherever they go."  
"Better than enemies," she spoke up, grinning. He looked up.  
"I suppose I can't stay mean forever. Might as well be a friend of yours, too."  
"I'm glad. Let's play a card game, huh?"  
  
Faye had returned. A bandage covered the deep cut in her right shoulder and a few knicks on her back, near her neck. She walked stiffly and sorely to her room, passing the other rooms along the way. She paused at Jesse's door, the only one open. Glancing past the corner of the door frame, she saw Jesse kneeled down in prayer in the shadows. He was saying something. She leaned in a little further. "Dear Father, please forgive me, I pray. I know that I have done wrong. I will repay my debt, even though I know there is no place in heaven for me. Amen." He crossed himself and Faye was gone.  
  
Tune in next week to read "Wake Up." Summary: An old friend from the dead shows up again. Naomi meets up with her kidnapper once more. 


End file.
